All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 241: Just Another Brick in the Wall

Unfortunately, Archibald was right.

Bee replayed the champion's words in her head as she dashed along the top of the wall. The assault had started just a little before sunrise, and it hadn't let up since. She never did get the break she wanted, meaning she had been up here for far too long. But that didn't slow her down as she moved along her section of the wall, furiously dashing from one ladder to the next. She barely even stopped to finish anyone off or intentionally hit demons at this point. She would simply rush to the enemy's ladders and release a Souring Strike or throw some of her alchemy equipment to dislodge it from the crenulations.

It was only due to her Improved Pathing skill that she could hit every ladder as efficiently as possible. Without that, the numbers would have overwhelmed her. Even then, it was a struggle to ensure she could hit all the deadlines with such precise timing. The skill was very good at scheduling when she needed to be where. The only issue was pushing her body hard enough to actually keep up.

She destroyed another ladder with her Scouring Strike, sending the climbing figures tumbling backward. One managed to leap onto the wall at the last moment. She didn't even give him a second glance as she smashed her bristled end of the broom into his chest and flung him back off.

As she ran towards the next breach, something changed. Suddenly, the breach marked by Improved Pathing winked out. She skidded to a stop, taking a breath and trying to figure out what was going on.

Looking out over the enemy army, she saw that every single one of their troops had paused in place. Their heads had swiveled to the back in response to some sort of signal. She had no idea what everyone was looking at, but one thing was certain. The humans wore looks of fear and uncertainty, while the demons bore wide grins.

Squinting, she could make out movement in the back of the army. It was milling about in a rather chaotic way, but she couldn't tell what exactly caused it. She tried running Scan to see if she could pick out anything in particular, but the distance was too great. The only thing she picked up were Scans of random soldiers along the way. Then, just as suddenly as it had stopped, the assault restarted. Bee began her frantic defense of the wall once again.

To her dismay, two separate ladders appeared at the exact same time, as far apart as they could be along her section of the wall. A quick glance around for help came up with nothing. Gritting her teeth, she darted toward one of the ladders, leaving the other behind.

There were plenty of other defenders about, but they had their own problems. Archibald guarded the other side of the wall like she was doing, except for an even larger breach. As he had managed to regain his energy throughout the fighting, he became more and more of a terrifying combatant. Yet he apparently still wasn't nearly at peak. Between his recovery from stasis and the guy's absolute love of battle, he seemed to only become stronger rather than worn down like everyone else.

Susan, Arthur, and Lieutenant Major also held smaller sections of the wall almost single-handedly. Their own army filled and rotated through the remaining sections that comprised the majority of the area. But despite how crowded it seemed, no one was nearby to help her.

Bee skidded to a halt when she was almost within reach of one ladder as she had an idea, turning to fling several of her alchemical concoctions towards the other. Hopefully, she'd get lucky and knock it off or at least delay the assault. In the mix, she hurled a sleeping potion, hoping to knock some people out with the potent gas. Then she turned back to her main focus: the ladder that clanged against the wall, its hooks digging into the stone at the top.

She chopped off the top rungs of the ladder with her broom and pushed, using her admittedly lacking weight to try to heave the thing away. It was a ton of effort, but with her broom as a lever, she managed to push it up and then off to the side, and the ladder came crashing down.

She would have preferred to destroy the ladder with her Scouring Strikes so it couldn't be reused, but she was just running low on energy; better to save them for the most dire moments. Not even waiting for the ladder to crash below, she dashed over to the next one.

Surprisingly, soldiers and demons hadn't swarmed the wall like she'd expected. As she looked down, she saw several unconscious forms at the bottom, along with several demons halfway up the ladder. She stood on top of where the ladder met her position, panting and trying to catch her breath as the demons came closer. She wasn't in any huge rush yet.

Ping. Her skill indicated that there was another ladder coming up. She kicked out on this one after cutting it free, pushing it to the side, and sprinting along the top of the crenellations to the next spot as demons screeched in anger below. Just a few yards over, she caught the next ladder as it was coming up with one foot and pushed, sending it careening off to the side. But at the same time, a rope flung up from below wrapped around her ankle, a hook digging into her boot.

Inwardly, she cursed herself. That ladder had been too easy to knock over, and she'd put herself in too vulnerable a position. She attempted to jump back over the wall, where she could maybe get into a position where she could cut the rope off of her foot. Still, an inhuman weight tugged at her and yanked that foot out from underneath her. Bee managed to catch the wall as she fell, but even if she managed to get free, she could see the other ladders going up all along her section. They'd take advantage of this if she didn't fix it fast.

Letting her broom slide down her hand, she gripped it by the bristles and swung wildly beneath her with the bladed tip. It took a couple tries, but eventually, she caught the rope with the blade. It parted like warm butter before the divine broom. With one arm, she pulled herself up and rolled over the wall only to spot three breaches. She bit the inside of her lip in frustration as she darted to the first and unleashed her most powerful attack, blowing it into the abyss before heading towards the next. It would take her a lot of energy to make up and regain control of the wall, but there wasn't anything else she could do.

It took her nearly 15 minutes to fully beat back every assault. Every time she managed to knock one down, it felt like another two popped back up. But with the time it took soldiers and demons to climb the ladders, she could just get ahead of the swarm enough that she wasn't overrun.

Despite her success, Bee felt exhausted. She had probably taken on more than she could chew, but there was no helping it. Someone had to do it. Looking over, she saw that Susan and Arthur were doing okay, holding their sections of the wall, but the soldiers were heavily pressed. At least they were still holding for now. No small thanks to Archibald for lending them a hand occasionally.

She frowned. She could have taken less of the wall, perhaps just a yard or two, and maybe she'd be better off. But at the same time, they just didn't have the manpower to spare for even a small expansion like that. Not for as long as they'd been holding. As it was, if this assault kept up for much longer, they wouldn't be able to hold at all. Hopefully, the enemy army would break before they did.

The disturbance at the back of the army moved again, and this time, it appeared closer to the wall. She grimaced, and this time, she could tell what was different. Bee could feel the pressure of power forcing her aura back, trying to constrain it as she let it billow out across the castle wall. She had never felt anything like it before, but the aura pressure was undeniable.

A pit of dread opened in her stomach. She couldn't be sure, but she had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

---

Daedalus beat his wings, pushing himself as fast as he could. He flew over the water like a meteor streaking overhead. He could feel the wind between his horns, and he smiled.

His companion was awake. After so long, his friend was finally back. It was frustrating that it would take him days to return. If he had known how close his companion was to awakening, he likely would never have gone such a long trip, no matter the cause. Though he couldn't say, he completely regretted it, knowing that a Lieutenant had been freed. But it was still disappointing.

He had done a little bit of fishing as he had flown over the ocean, picking up a few smaller whales that were breaching too close to his flight path. He didn't really need to eat. There was enough mana in the air to sustain him, at least. But the hunt was fun. It certainly made that massive stretch of nothingness less boring to cross. But eventually, he finally caught sight of land. The broad white expanse of the massive tundra that led to his mountain home.

Daedalus was debating whether or not he should make a stop in his cave to pick out any of Archibald's favorite things. Or should he just make a beeline right towards them? He still debated the question when he finally got close enough to the castle to see that something was wrong.

It was a faint buzzing noise that first caught his attention. The strange sound made him arc up and over his mountain to take a look rather than dive right into the cave for a quick pit stop. But then he saw the long line of soldiers snaking through the valley and crashing into the walls of the castle.

Something came over him. Something Daedalus hadn't felt in a long time. There were tens of thousands of attackers, and they went on for what looked like days of walking through the forest. Were they here for his Archibald? Of course. Why else would they be here? Petty humans trying to take revenge on the dragons. He knew they'd be bitter over them keeping so much of the gold. But it was simply a fair reward. After all, the dragons had sacrificed so much to fight the demons for them! Especially Daedalus himself!

He faced the demons, giving the humans their freedom, and this was how the humans repaid him? By teaming up with the demons to not just steal his hoard, oh no. That would have been inexcusable enough. Trying to hit him in the only place he was weak. It was the only place where this dragon was truly vulnerable. His friends. His softer, squishier, and significantly weaker and maybe a little inferior friends.

That would not happen. Not on his watch.

Daedalus felt something deep build deep in his chest, far below where the fires were stoked, and his vision went white. Only dark reliefs of his enemies appeared within his mind, and his instincts took over. His wings tucked to his sides, and he felt the wind rush by ever faster as it flowed across his scales. The ancient red dragon dove down. Down to face his enemies.